Very brief summary: 5. Factory, don't over prioritise early on, useful late on 4. Upgrades, don't overprioritise, don't get 6 upgrades. Get 2-3, e.g. movement and power useful 3. Get the fast Mech early on, spread workers. Unless you're Russviet, then get Riverwalk Mech for food 2. Always get 5 or 8 workers. 1. Get all four enlists!
factory - don't prioritize getting there too early upgrades - 2 or 3. bolster/popularity/move (where to put these on the bottom for max efficiency?) no mech - speed mech first. rusviet riverwalk (how do you get off island fast - next mech or mine?) 2 workers - mostly 5 sometimes 8 no enlist - most helpful overall (what is the fastest way to get to food?)
Upgrades: Put them whereever works for the resources you have or plan to use. Rusviet Riverwalk: in games where you want to get enlists first, you can riverwalk to the northwest farm directly from your village and riverwalk with your hero to the northeast farm directly to the encounter. Only if you want the food straight away though. Fastest Food: This really depends on your faction's starting area and your player mat
Right. A lot of games depend on how others are playing, and which Encounters you draw, too… I just played yesterday and trounced both my opponents while breaking three of these rules (I did all my upgrades, only got one enlistee, and made it to the factory four turns before anyone else).
Hard agree. I think if a game becomes math and statistics and strategy and nothing else, I might as well be at work pushing buttons and not having fun. Good tips. Not my favorite delivery though.
Oh my god I never thought of using the +1 hex mech to disperse optimally your workers on your peninsula. I had always thought the numeber 1 to get was crossing rivers. I agree on upgrades, they should have put the star at 5. i had the feeling recruits were very good but depending on the conditions wasn't always doing the 4, but you convinced me. Excellent video.
Helpful video minus the arrogance of being “right and wrong”. That said he has credibility in stats. Would be better with the humility of understanding we all, including himself, are all learners.
Thanks - I also used to prioritize trade/upgrade and watch everyone beat me. In Jamey Stegmaier's top 5 strategies video, he recommends starting the game with a trade/prod combo - so that you can play the second row action in your second turn.
which is not possible for all board/faction combos. (crimea/russviet not having a cost 2 oil or cost 3 food/steal). like industrial crimea, mechanical in general with those 2 (no pairing with the 3 mech), always take three turns
Excellent video mate. Short to the point and valuable. To be honest not until recently I have been guilty as charged for at least 2 of the mistakes you mentioned. Now I can see myself that what you said is absolutely right.
Please create more scythe content! best informational vids for this game on all of youtube. Id like to see more Scythe commentary vids where you play each faction online and talk through your logic.
Great tips here, just one thing to note. I see I'm the only one here commenting on your constant "if your doing this your playing wrong" or "if your doing this your not playing scythe" comments. Well they might not be playing a game to win, and you might disagree with the way some people play, but if they bought the game, set it up, and began playing the game...then they are 100% still playing the game. Just a thought.
I understand what you're saying. It all depends on the other players' levels. If they play casually, just for fun, without too much ambition to optimize then there's no need for these strategic analyses. If you find yourself amongst experienced min-maxers who play Scythe regularly and participate in tournaments... well. that's another story.
Just started playing this game recently and your videos have been the best resource I have found for ideas on starting strategies and the strengths of each faction. Thank you so much for making these videos. Please make more!
Good tips for those with a few games experience and maybe getting frustrated. But the "95% of the time you're wrong, and if you don't see the 5%..." was my favorite part. Scythe is so diverse, there's almost always an exception - but they are all rare exceptions. I think I break all 5 when I win with Saxony, for example... my Scythe group doesn't let me play Saxony anymore. ;-)
Hi , I just noticed your more recent videos about advances tactics. I had to go looking for this old video to point new players in the right direction for some basics. I think you should add this into your Scythe playlist.
Question. At 9:35-ish. You mention, producing workers. You said, on one production you can gain two workers. I’m assuming you already have two of your workers on that tile correct? You can’t produce two items with one workers in only one turn.
I did that, too. Ymmv, but I think it depends on the level of the table you're playing. Granted, I tend to play with less experienced players and, being one myself, it allows for these deviations from what's unequivocally optimal and still walk away with a victory to show for it. Needless to say, I still struggle to beat the Automa even on easy mode, so these videos definitely come in handy. One of my favourite games, even if I suck at it haha
I would add that if your board combo is not the best and your opponent(s) have better options then put workers in their way and attack them if the opportunity presents itself. Dont play a solitaire game in that situation because you will lose.
So I don't understand why you want speed over riverwalk. I'm still relatively new but it seems the first thing to do is break out of your river-enclosed area.
Every faction has the mine building which will get you out of your starting area and into the middle without the need for river walking. If used correctly the only reason you would really require river walk is to go into other starting areas (to contest enemies or claim un-used areas).
@@tikksisnogood9021 Nope, speed mech is more important unless like he said you're Rusviet. Especially if you're on a starting position with brick, you can combine trade and produce and get a speed mech on your 2nd or 3rd turn and then your first move you can bring you character straight to the encounters and you can base your game play based on the resources you get. Then while your producing more workers you can also produce more steel and get you riverwalk or whatever mech to get off your starting base, and with most factions move onto your 2nd encounter with only your second move. You could even end up with a mine from the encounter which in combo with your speed mech, trumps any mech movement ability. The 2nd reason is also leaving your home base makes you completly vunerable. Why leave your home base where your completly protected when you have two resources already? Take your 4 workers from your village with a mech and split them on your resources and build a foundation. You want to build up power and mechs before leaving your base in almost all situations to avoid being taken advantage of. This is especially true early game when many teams we have little to no popularity and won't hesitate to knock you and all your workers back to your base. And then without a speed mech it'll take 3 movement actions to get back to where you were. That's 6 total turns, and with that kind of game play you likely don't have the power to take it back, and even if you do you're likely down to near 0 even if succesful, and back in the same vunerable position.
I am a newer player but I don't see how the speed Meck is better than the Riverwalk in the beginning because you can't leave your starting area without Riverwalk.
I think it has something to do with being able to use the Mechs to move your workers more efficiently that way and that takes priority to crossing the river.
At the start of the guy I typically don't move my character till I have the speed mech. Then it's a single move to get your character straight to the encounter token. Likewise you don't have to have riverwalk to leave the starting areas. Make sure you check the other mech abilities and see which is the most use given what others round the table are doing.
I'd say yes, especially if you get it faster than your opponent. If your opponent does it and you don't, i can say with full confidence that you my friend are screwed.
Depends. If you're Saxony and you could probably still rush the game by going for worker star, mech star, one or both objectives, two or three combats.
Do you still go for 4 Inlists when it's difficult or inefficient to do so? For example, Industrial doesn't gain anything when Inlisting. Or Saxony with poor access to Food early?
Thanks for the info, dude! This is amazing info for someone new like me :D Would you make any changes to these tips if playing solo against the automata (which I am doing)?
Of course it was arrogant to say that and I shouldn't have. But at the time of this video's release, it was accurate to say this. I made this video early on when the Scythe meta was evolving from being released on mobile and players playing more often online. In the early stages of Scythe online, everything I said here was true. It was a time where if you did powerful things (like enlisting) in suboptimal conditions you could win over people who did suboptimal things in suboptimal conditions. I recommend you check out the more recent content where I have tons of videos breaking down the latest meta which do hold up. Type 1 and Type 2 gameplay, diversity, etc. I don't tell you everything must be a certain way, but break down multiple ways to play the game and win based on board and faction setups. This was absolutely unnecessary until the meta had evolved to a point where people were playing well enough that it required you to play optimal things in optimal conditions to win.
For the Togawa, no, not at the start. The only advantage of Shinobi is allowing your Mechs to catch up with your Hero. Probably good for combat, but not until your hero slowly waddles her way over to the Mine network and the center of the board, plopping traps down along the way. You won't really need Shinobi until you've lost a fight and need to bring your stuff back to the front. For the Albion? Yes! Rally lets you cleverly move your workers around and teleport your Hero to said worker as well. You can quite easily grab the first two Exploration tokens near Albion with this, and push your forces up wherever you have workers on the board.
Can Polonia afford to take +1 Movement Mech first, even if this means they'll have to stay on their starting peninsula for quite some time? I mean their combination of resources they have access to at the beginning seem like the worst from all factions.
By trading for metal you can have usually have both your speed and submerge mechs out by turn 6-8 depending on your mat and encounter. I don't think it makes sense to move out onto the board as Polania without speed in most situations, because you would need an extra move to reach the factory card (or next encounter, whichever you go for) which will slow you down by two turns again. I think Polania actually has a decent starting position with food and a village on their island, although Rusviet's and Crimea's positions are better in my opinion.
I would say there is another big problem players do (with the boardgame itself) - they spend popularity for things. NEVER spend popularity for things. You nr 1 thing to do is to get to 13 at least (near end game).
Hi Rain, I wanted to ask you if you had a counter to a strategy my brother employed in a 2 player game. He had Poland’s and I had Nordic. He would grab a few mechs and workers and submerge them to my base and plant them next on my mountains, push back all my workers, take my resources, and capture my mine which would force me to attack him and his workers and force me to attack his workers which would tank my popularity in order to take my mine back. If I won, he would repeat over and over. I didn’t have the combat power or cards to fend off this tactic.
Situational. Enlist is better with 3+ players, upgrades are good if our mat is expensive so we need to upgrade it. Other stars are better and more easier to get fast than upgrade.
Very brief summary:
5. Factory, don't over prioritise early on, useful late on
4. Upgrades, don't overprioritise, don't get 6 upgrades. Get 2-3, e.g. movement and power useful
3. Get the fast Mech early on, spread workers. Unless you're Russviet, then get Riverwalk Mech for food
2. Always get 5 or 8 workers.
1. Get all four enlists!
This is basically a "5 strategies" video except meaner
factory - don't prioritize getting there too early
upgrades - 2 or 3. bolster/popularity/move (where to put these on the bottom for max efficiency?)
no mech - speed mech first. rusviet riverwalk (how do you get off island fast - next mech or mine?)
2 workers - mostly 5 sometimes 8
no enlist - most helpful overall (what is the fastest way to get to food?)
Upgrades: Put them whereever works for the resources you have or plan to use.
Rusviet Riverwalk: in games where you want to get enlists first, you can riverwalk to the northwest farm directly from your village and riverwalk with your hero to the northeast farm directly to the encounter. Only if you want the food straight away though.
Fastest Food: This really depends on your faction's starting area and your player mat
I liked this video and the tips, but I really don't like that gatekeeping comment "you're not playing scythe if you don't do X".
Right. A lot of games depend on how others are playing, and which Encounters you draw, too… I just played yesterday and trounced both my opponents while breaking three of these rules (I did all my upgrades, only got one enlistee, and made it to the factory four turns before anyone else).
Hard agree. I think if a game becomes math and statistics and strategy and nothing else, I might as well be at work pushing buttons and not having fun. Good tips. Not my favorite delivery though.
Oh my god I never thought of using the +1 hex mech to disperse optimally your workers on your peninsula. I had always thought the numeber 1 to get was crossing rivers. I agree on upgrades, they should have put the star at 5. i had the feeling recruits were very good but depending on the conditions wasn't always doing the 4, but you convinced me. Excellent video.
Helpful video minus the arrogance of being “right and wrong”. That said he has credibility in stats. Would be better with the humility of understanding we all, including himself, are all learners.
Thank you. I totally agree.
Thanks for the for this. I just recently learned how powerful and important it is to get all the enlists out.
I like the video, but I wish you showed some examples to drive home your points
Thanks - I also used to prioritize trade/upgrade and watch everyone beat me. In Jamey Stegmaier's top 5 strategies video, he recommends starting the game with a trade/prod combo - so that you can play the second row action in your second turn.
which is not possible for all board/faction combos. (crimea/russviet not having a cost 2 oil or cost 3 food/steal). like industrial crimea, mechanical in general with those 2 (no pairing with the 3 mech), always take three turns
Excellent video mate. Short to the point and valuable. To be honest not until recently I have been guilty as charged for at least 2 of the mistakes you mentioned. Now I can see myself that what you said is absolutely right.
Please create more scythe content! best informational vids for this game on all of youtube. Id like to see more Scythe commentary vids where you play each faction online and talk through your logic.
Great tips here, just one thing to note. I see I'm the only one here commenting on your constant "if your doing this your playing wrong" or "if your doing this your not playing scythe" comments. Well they might not be playing a game to win, and you might disagree with the way some people play, but if they bought the game, set it up, and began playing the game...then they are 100% still playing the game. Just a thought.
hahah, such a complete nonsense comment :D
I understand what you're saying. It all depends on the other players' levels. If they play casually, just for fun, without too much ambition to optimize then there's no need for these strategic analyses. If you find yourself amongst experienced min-maxers who play Scythe regularly and participate in tournaments... well. that's another story.
Sweet, I had reached these same conclusions on my own. Always nice to see a second confirmation!
Just started playing this game recently and your videos have been the best resource I have found for ideas on starting strategies and the strengths of each faction. Thank you so much for making these videos. Please make more!
Good tips for those with a few games experience and maybe getting frustrated. But the "95% of the time you're wrong, and if you don't see the 5%..." was my favorite part. Scythe is so diverse, there's almost always an exception - but they are all rare exceptions. I think I break all 5 when I win with Saxony, for example... my Scythe group doesn't let me play Saxony anymore. ;-)
Thanks for the tips. I love this game, both board and online.
The coin enlist maxes out at 12 coins in value - I'd say on average players get 6/7 coins.
Hi , I just noticed your more recent videos about advances tactics. I had to go looking for this old video to point new players in the right direction for some basics. I think you should add this into your Scythe playlist.
Loving the Scythe videos!! Keep them coming!
Question. At 9:35-ish. You mention, producing workers. You said, on one production you can gain two workers. I’m assuming you already have two of your workers on that tile correct? You can’t produce two items with one workers in only one turn.
For what player count is all this information? Would it not all depend greatly on how many are playing?
Funny, I always prioritize the upgrade star and I've won more games than I've lost. . .lol
I did that, too. Ymmv, but I think it depends on the level of the table you're playing. Granted, I tend to play with less experienced players and, being one myself, it allows for these deviations from what's unequivocally optimal and still walk away with a victory to show for it. Needless to say, I still struggle to beat the Automa even on easy mode, so these videos definitely come in handy. One of my favourite games, even if I suck at it haha
the popularity multiplyer is the most important to win.
Rain, thank you for you insights. I look forward to applying your counsel in a few Solo vs Bot games before taking on my friends. 😜
Thanks for the video, you definitely made me rethink some of my assumptions about the game.
I would add that if your board combo is not the best and your opponent(s) have better options then put workers in their way and attack them if the opportunity presents itself. Dont play a solitaire game in that situation because you will lose.
How does it make sense to get the speed-mech before the walk over river-mech? Speed won’t help if I can’t reach the area outside my starting area…
yeah that does not have any sense. All civs are dependent on river walk, or Polania and Nords on lake embark.
Did I hear that right??? Two bottom actions on a turn?
So I don't understand why you want speed over riverwalk. I'm still relatively new but it seems the first thing to do is break out of your river-enclosed area.
Every faction has the mine building which will get you out of your starting area and into the middle without the need for river walking. If used correctly the only reason you would really require river walk is to go into other starting areas (to contest enemies or claim un-used areas).
@@tikksisnogood9021 Nope, speed mech is more important unless like he said you're Rusviet. Especially if you're on a starting position with brick, you can combine trade and produce and get a speed mech on your 2nd or 3rd turn and then your first move you can bring you character straight to the encounters and you can base your game play based on the resources you get. Then while your producing more workers you can also produce more steel and get you riverwalk or whatever mech to get off your starting base, and with most factions move onto your 2nd encounter with only your second move. You could even end up with a mine from the encounter which in combo with your speed mech, trumps any mech movement ability.
The 2nd reason is also leaving your home base makes you completly vunerable. Why leave your home base where your completly protected when you have two resources already? Take your 4 workers from your village with a mech and split them on your resources and build a foundation. You want to build up power and mechs before leaving your base in almost all situations to avoid being taken advantage of. This is especially true early game when many teams we have little to no popularity and won't hesitate to knock you and all your workers back to your base. And then without a speed mech it'll take 3 movement actions to get back to where you were. That's 6 total turns, and with that kind of game play you likely don't have the power to take it back, and even if you do you're likely down to near 0 even if succesful, and back in the same vunerable position.
I am a newer player but I don't see how the speed Meck is better than the Riverwalk in the beginning because you can't leave your starting area without Riverwalk.
I think it has something to do with being able to use the Mechs to move your workers more efficiently that way and that takes priority to crossing the river.
At the start of the guy I typically don't move my character till I have the speed mech. Then it's a single move to get your character straight to the encounter token. Likewise you don't have to have riverwalk to leave the starting areas. Make sure you check the other mech abilities and see which is the most use given what others round the table are doing.
Great video, thanks! Very helpful for a noob such as myself.
Is the 4 enlist necessary in a 2 player game ?
I'd say yes, especially if you get it faster than your opponent. If your opponent does it and you don't, i can say with full confidence that you my friend are screwed.
Depends. If you're Saxony and you could probably still rush the game by going for worker star, mech star, one or both objectives, two or three combats.
Do you still go for 4 Inlists when it's difficult or inefficient to do so? For example, Industrial doesn't gain anything when Inlisting. Or Saxony with poor access to Food early?
Not always, but emphasizing it pretty much helps people understand how big it is. I'd rather overstate here than understate.
@@Reign274 like industrial saxony?
Great video
This was great thank you!!
Awesome, thanks for doing these
This guy was listening to Avril Lavigne - Complicated, as we can see at 6:18, I dont know if I should trust his advice now.
lol
Thanks for the info, dude! This is amazing info for someone new like me :D Would you make any changes to these tips if playing solo against the automata (which I am doing)?
What about getting all upgrades if you get extra 3 coins for doing them? And what about getting all the workers and just producing fewer times?
This was so helpful!
I do all 5! No wonder I suck. But not anymore! Maybe. I wonder what mistakes 6-10 would be. I bet I do those too. Thanks for the tips!
Nononono this video is old and wrong
@@Reign274 No worries! I am old, and often wrong too!
“People may disagree but they are wrong”
I like your tips but you really need to check that arrogance.
Of course it was arrogant to say that and I shouldn't have. But at the time of this video's release, it was accurate to say this.
I made this video early on when the Scythe meta was evolving from being released on mobile and players playing more often online.
In the early stages of Scythe online, everything I said here was true. It was a time where if you did powerful things (like enlisting) in suboptimal conditions you could win over people who did suboptimal things in suboptimal conditions.
I recommend you check out the more recent content where I have tons of videos breaking down the latest meta which do hold up. Type 1 and Type 2 gameplay, diversity, etc. I don't tell you everything must be a certain way, but break down multiple ways to play the game and win based on board and faction setups. This was absolutely unnecessary until the meta had evolved to a point where people were playing well enough that it required you to play optimal things in optimal conditions to win.
Togawa and Albion arent built into the game yet. They dont have speed mechs, would you prioritise their Shinobi and Rally abilities instead?
Togawa and Albion make you think your strategies from scratch. I usually priorities the factory with them to balance the lack of speed mech... :)
@@bernardjuganniere3339 how can you get to the factory quickly with Togawa tho?
For the Togawa, no, not at the start. The only advantage of Shinobi is allowing your Mechs to catch up with your Hero. Probably good for combat, but not until your hero slowly waddles her way over to the Mine network and the center of the board, plopping traps down along the way. You won't really need Shinobi until you've lost a fight and need to bring your stuff back to the front.
For the Albion? Yes! Rally lets you cleverly move your workers around and teleport your Hero to said worker as well. You can quite easily grab the first two Exploration tokens near Albion with this, and push your forces up wherever you have workers on the board.
Can Polonia afford to take +1 Movement Mech first, even if this means they'll have to stay on their starting peninsula for quite some time? I mean their combination of resources they have access to at the beginning seem like the worst from all factions.
Old video, very much out of date. I'll make a new one soon!
By trading for metal you can have usually have both your speed and submerge mechs out by turn 6-8 depending on your mat and encounter. I don't think it makes sense to move out onto the board as Polania without speed in most situations, because you would need an extra move to reach the factory card (or next encounter, whichever you go for) which will slow you down by two turns again. I think Polania actually has a decent starting position with food and a village on their island, although Rusviet's and Crimea's positions are better in my opinion.
How does he get all the tracks to show?
Can someone please explain where you can play this? I searched the net but can`t find it. I don't think it's Steam or Tabletopia
Actually, Steam and Tabletopia are exactly the places where you can play it online. This video shows "Scythe: Digital Version" in Steam.
I’m not a ranked player but I pronounce Scythe correctly 😄
"Russ-vayt" hurt me pretty bad too.
What site is that???
Interesting community website : scythebg.ga/stats.html (where you can see Enlist is one of the common star for winners)
i thought you only get coins from adjacent opponents so since each player can only get 4 mechs how can u get more than 8 coins from that enlist?
you get coins when you or an adjacent opponent deploy mechs. so 12 would be the highest amount of coins you could get
@@lurvigw as well as the +2 if you chose to cover coins on your player mat.
couuld someone gve me the summarry of thi video?? i couldnt understand what he is explaining because of the lack of eng skills
I would say there is another big problem players do (with the boardgame itself) - they spend popularity for things. NEVER spend popularity for things. You nr 1 thing to do is to get to 13 at least (near end game).
Lol, I generally win all of my games with near 0 popularity. Spending popularity speeds the game
It's exactly the opposite. Don't be afraid to spend popularity. Most games are over before anyone can get to tier three.
@@devendrabendkhale6902 Don't think this is true, I've done both and much better if you keep pop high. Keeping it low, has considerable risk.
Top 1 mistake when doing a video
1. Stop clicking on the board and moving the board when you are talking
jeez
What 5 mistakes do the Post-Modernists make according to Dr Jordan Peterson?
Game is awesome! For the intense resource building type.. Good strat advice on the enlist and speed mechs.. Almost gave me the win last week!
Hi Rain, I wanted to ask you if you had a counter to a strategy my brother employed in a 2 player game. He had Poland’s and I had Nordic. He would grab a few mechs and workers and submerge them to my base and plant them next on my mountains, push back all my workers, take my resources, and capture my mine which would force me to attack him and his workers and force me to attack his workers which would tank my popularity in order to take my mine back. If I won, he would repeat over and over. I didn’t have the combat power or cards to fend off this tactic.
Your brother (and you) have just helped the entire Scythe community.
You're wrong. Upgrade is better than enlist 😊
Situational. Enlist is better with 3+ players, upgrades are good if our mat is expensive so we need to upgrade it. Other stars are better and more easier to get fast than upgrade.
How do you get a mech out before you move any of your workers?
with trade, we can trade iron if we do not have any close enough, so if mechs are cheap, we can get them very fast.
Great video. I was making many of these mistakes! The only one that I've gotten right for sure is to get all the Enlists.
Where can I find scythe online and does it cost?
check steamstore